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INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.

Industrial training for the youth of our land is a subject receiving marked attention at the present day. Educators, reformers, and philanthropists unite in urging it forward as a crying need of the times. The idea is not a novel one in schools for deaf-mutes. Almost from the foundation of this school, industrial training has formed an important part of the education of every able-bodied pupil. So long ago as 1824, two shops had been built for the use of our pupils. If I am not mistaken, this school was the pioneer in this country of conjoint industrial and literary education, and most of the schools for the deaf in the United States have followed its example.

The success of the experiment, undertaken by the managers of the school with many misgivings at first, very soon demonstrated its wisdom. The habits of industry here acquired clung to the pupils as they went forth to the duties of life, and with rare exceptions they have been industrious, self-supporting, law-abiding citizens, not ashamed to work, and having the knowledge and skill to do their work well.

This double education is insisted upon in the case of every pupil. Sometimes, in mistaken kindness, parents plead to have their children excused from the industrial training, as they will not need to work for a living, or, at least, will not pursue the trades taught here. We can make no exceptions on such grounds. Habits of industry are invaluable, and they should be acquired at the formative period of life. It is of much less importance what one learns to do, than that one should learn to do promptly and well whatever one undertakes. With industrious habits, a trained eye, a skilled hand, and cultivated judgment, one may acquire a new trade with comparative ease, but where all these are wanting, to start on any new line of work is a difficult task.

Our pupils receive instruction in three trades, viz.: cabinet-making, shoe-making, and tailoring. At present there are thirty-six boys at work in the cabinet-shop, twenty-seven boys in the shoe-shop, and twenty-three boys and four girls in the tailors' shop. Most of the girls learn to sew and to do some of the lighter parts of house-work.

In the cabinet-shop the boys learn how to use wood-working tools, and when they have finished their school course, they find it comparatively easy to secure employment in carpenter shops, furniture establishments, or in any other occupation in which that class of tools is used. Those who return to farm life find the knowledge which they have obtained in this branch of instruction valuable in saving the cost of repairs and in the manufacture of many needed and useful articles. The cabinet-shop is supplied with power for the turning-lathe and heavy sawing, but the rest of the work here, as all of that in the shoe-shop and the tailors'-shop, is performed by hand, as the object is not to turn off a large amount of work, but to teach boys the use and proper care of tools.

Shoe-making has proved a useful trade for many boys, as it requires very little capital. One can start in the trade almost anywhere, and very seldom does a good cobbler fail to find sufficient work to make a comfortable living.

Boys in the tailors-shop remain there only until they are large enough to enter one of the other shops.

Drawing is carefully taught in order to cultivate the hand and the eye, and as a preparation for understanding working plans in the mechanical arts, and as laying the foundation for designing and other art work with those who show special talent in those lines.

We do not expect our boys to become thorough masters of their trades before leaving school, but we do expect every boy, who has even a fair amount of mechanical ability, to understand well the use of his tools; to know how to keep them in good order and to do good work. Some of the work in black walnut, done to order by our older boys in the cabinet-shop, would do credit to any journeyman cabinet-maker. This knowledge of tools and the degree of skill attained in their use give the deaf young man a vantage ground on which to stand in the competition with his more favored hearing rival. It shifts to his own end of the beam the weight which, other things being equal, would naturally be in the opposite side of the balance.

Every boy in the shops has the same opportunity to learn, but of course all do not make the same progress. Among the pupils there is the same diversity of mechanical as of literary ability, but it is often the case that the boy, who excels in the school-room, takes but an inferior rank as a mechanic, and vice versa.

This double comparison and competition have a beneficial effect upon the character. The boy, who grows discouraged by seeing himself constantly outstripped in the school-room, has his courage revived and regains his self-respect by seeing his own superior success in mechanical work, and the boy whose vanity thrives on his easy superiority in the school-room is brought to a more just estimate of himself by seeing how easily another surpasses him at his trade. Thus each is led to a fairer judgment of, and greater respect for, the other.

Another beneficial result of industrial training is that it cultivates self-reliance, honesty, and carefulness. The boy, learning a trade, must depend largely upon himself. His judgment must be exercised at every point. If mistakes are made, he is compelled to see that they are his own. Want of accuracy and carelessness are sure to bring upon himself perplexities and failures, the responsibility for which he can in no wise escape. So are impressed upon him the necessity of honesty and carefulness more forcibly than they could be by any instruction in the school-room.

Again, the knowledge of a trade and the habits of industry acquired while learning it, furnish one of the best safe-guards with which a young man entering upon life can be equipped. There is an old Jewish proverb, that he who neglects to teach his son a trade, teaches him to be a thief.

Of the beneficial results of manual training Ex-President Hayes, in a recent public address, spoke as follows:

"If I were asked to name a measure of reform which is practicably within our reach, and the best fitted to prevent, or, at least, largely to diminish crimes, I would say let our young people of both sexes and all conditions be taught as a part of their education to know the value of work, to catch the spirit of work, and to form the habit of work, not only with their brains, but also with their eyes and their hands. To do this we need not give up the classics or mathematics or any other favorite study. 'Hand training,' says Doctor Haygood, 'quickens mental faculties that no mere text-book drill awakens.' It inculcates respect for labor. The young man who despises labor carries with him into every walk of life one of the most dangerous temptations to crime. The young man of industrious habits, who can support himself by the labor of his hands, has acquired what the poet Burns calls 'The glorious privilege of being independent.'"

In certain quarters schools for deaf-mutes have been criticised for teaching such trades as tailoring, cabinet-making, and shoe-making, as tending to degrade deaf-mutes as a class. We cannot agree with such criticisms. But a very small proportion of either the deaf or the hearing have decided artistic talent. Is it best to spoil a good mechanic to make a poor artist? To give a smattering of ornamental accomplishments as a substitute for a good trade? Does the clerk behind the counter fill any more honorable place, or one better calculated to stimulate self-improvement, than the skilled artisan? Is one engaged in ornamental industrial pursuits likely to earn a more comfortable support for himself and his family than one master of a good trade?

OCCUPATION OF GRADUATES.

For some months past I have been making careful inquiry as to the present occupation of our former pupils and the remuneration received by them. The reports are very encouraging, though, on account of the general depression of business, it has been an unfavorable time to secure the best showing of results. Reliable reports have been received concerning more than four hundred, and below are given the list of occupations.

OCCUPATIONS OF MEN.

1 Artist,
3 Bakers,
1 Basket-maker,
1 Belt-maker,
1 Blacksmith,
1 Boatman,
1 Boat- builder,
1 Book-agent,
2 Bookbinders,
1 Brakeman,
1 Brass-m older,
1 Brass-worker,
1 Bricklayer,
5 Burnishers,
2 Chair-makers,
1 Cigar-maker,
1 Clerk in drug store,
1 Clerk in post-office,
1 Clerk in Treasury Department,
3 Clergymen, ordained, 1 Cooper,
6 Clock-makers,
1 Clock-case maker,
1 Copyist,
2 Cutters in shoe-shop,
12 Cabinet-makers,
1 Capitalist, (1)
1 Car maker,
17 Carpenters,
2 Carriage-makers,
1 Carriage-painter,
2 Cartridge-makers,
1 Casket-maker,
1 Casket-trimmer,
1 Draughtsman, 1 Dyer,
3 Editors,
70 Farmers,
1 Fireman,
3 Fishermen,
1 Foreman in warehouse,
1 Foundryman,
3 Furniture-makers.
1 Furniture-polisher,
1 Glass-cutter,
1 Glue-maker,
2 Hatters,
1Hostler,
1 Ice-dealer,
1 Janitor.
1 Jeweler,
3 Joiners,
7 Laborers,
1 Lamp-trimmer,
1 Last-maker,
3 Lock-makers,
2 Masons,
4 Machinists,
20 Mechanics,
1 Merchant,
2 1 Mill operatives,
1 Mill-wright,
1 Monument sculptor,
3 Nail-makers,
1 Organ-case maker,
1 Oysterman,
1 Pail-maker,
8 Painters,
1 Paper-ruler (by machine),
1 Patent lawyer,
1 Pattern-maker,
2 Peddlers,
1 Picture-frame maker,
3 Piano case makers, 1 Plough -maker,
1 Pocket-book maker,
5 Printers,
1 Quarryman,
1 Rubber-stamp maker,
1 Rule-maker,
5 Sash and Blind makers,
2 Saw-mill tenders, 1 Shoe-dealer,
20 Shoe-makers,
27 Shoe factory operatives,
1 Shuttle-maker,
1 Spool-turner,
1 Stair-builder,
2 Stone-cutters,
1 Silver metal scourer,
1 Tanner,
15 Teachers,
2 Tin-smiths,
1 Tool maker,
1 Toy-maker,
2 Upholsterers,
1 Varnisher,
1 Wagon-maker,
1 Watch-maker,
4 Wire-drawers,
6 Wood-carvers,
2 Wool-sorters.

OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN.

1 Book-Stitcher,
2 Cartridge-makers,
1 Corset-maker,
2 Hair-braiders,
1 Matron in a school for deaf-mutes,
2 Matrons, Assistant, in a school for deaf-mutes,
27 Mill operatives,
5 Seamstresses,
3 Shoe factory operatives,
1 Supervisor of girls in school
for deaf mutes,
2 Tailoresses,
6 Teachers.

A large number of the women are married and have homes of their own. Many others live with their parents, and are useful and efficient members of the household. Of these two classes I have made no note in the above list of occupations.

WAGES.

As a rule the wages reported are not inferior to those earned by others in the same kinds of work, and some are receiving wages above the average.

One shoemaker earns $125.00 per month on an average, others report an average of $60.00 per month, others $40.00 per month, and the lowest reported in that trade is $1.00 a day; the wages of boys little more than half way through their teens.

One weaver earns $53.00 a month, others $40.00, others $30.00 to $35.00.

Carpenters generally report wages of $2.00 a day.

Cabinet-makers earn from $1.25 to $2.25 a day.

One mechanic earns from $75.00 to $80.00 per month.

Clock-makers report wages varying from $1.25 to $3.00 per day for piece-work.

Burnishers report wages varying from $1.25 to $5.00 per day for piece-work.

Teachers receive wages which will not compare unfavorably with the wages paid for teaching the same grades of classes in the profession generally, the highest salary reported being $1800.

The patent lawyer in a competitive examination for the chief examinership in the patent office received the highest mark, but being debarred from that office by his infirmity, he entered upon the practice of patent-law, in which he has gained a lucrative practice.

It will be seen by a glance at the list given above, that there is great variety in the occupations of our former pupils. Comparatively few of them have followed the trades learned here, but all have carried with them the trained hand and eye, the cultivated judgment, and the industrious habits here acquired. In no case have they found these a hindrance to their advancement, but, rather, on the foundations thus laid, they have built their success. There is nothing degrading or belittling in the acquirement of any honest handicraft. The false impression that there was has started many a young man on his way to the alms-house or the jail. Honest industry of any kind is honorable. Voluntary idleness is degrading, whether it be found among the rich or the poor, among the learned or the ignorant.

That the crown prince of Germany is a wood-turner by trade, and his oldest son a skillful photographer, detracts nothing from their royal dignity. That Henry "Wilson was a shoe-maker did not prevent his rise to the vice-presidency of the nation. Andrew Johnson, though a tailor, became President of the United States. Years of honest toil at the anvil were no bar to Dr. Kobert Collyer's gaining an enviable reputation as a pulpit orator. Work at the hatter's bench, while a boy, and serving an apprenticeship at coach-making afterward, dwarfed neither the mind nor heart of Peter Cooper, who by his princely munificence did so much to encourage and elevate the industrial classes in New York, and whose good work still goes on in Cooper Institute. That prince among men, the apostle Paul, who furnished the highest type of Christian manhood, and whose life and teaching have done more than those of any other mere man to elevate the human race, was not ashamed to earn his bread as a tent-maker. Even the Son of God, when veiled in the flesh, did not think it degrading to his humanity to toil at the carpenter's bench.

This age of inventions owes its pre-eminence largely to the practical sagacity of "greasy mechanics." The names of those who, from humble trades have risen to positions of influence and honor, and whose lives have been a power in their day and generation, is legion. "The gospel of work" is a glorious gospel, and its apostles, who are now putting forth every effort to secure a revival of it, deserve earnest encouragement and support.